--- title: Vice Presidential Debate: Full Transcript of Kaine and Pence description: Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Mike Pence debated Tuesday for the first and only time of the 2016 campaign. canonical: https://time.com/4517096/vice-presidential-debate-kaine-pence-transcript/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-05T04:47:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:49:25.888Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read a Transcript of the Vice Presidential Debate og:description: This was the first and only time the two candidates will debate og:url: https://time.com/4517096/vice-presidential-debate-kaine-pence-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2e694da2992bbb8/6988a8b9428a9ec3bacd480c/161005_em_vpdebateanalysis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: 161005_EM_VPDebateAnalysis og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read a Transcript of the Vice Presidential Debate twitter:description: This was the first and only time the two candidates will debate twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2e694da2992bbb8/6988a8b9428a9ec3bacd480c/161005_em_vpdebateanalysis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read a Transcript of the Vice Presidential Debate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=645f79f8-9541-4e4c-910f-4742d43cc13d&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch The Top Mike Pence VS Tim Kaine Debate Moments [Watch (HLS stream): Watch The Top Mike Pence VS Tim Kaine Debate Moments](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/XGIAbp2O.m3u8) (1:56)  _Published 2016-10-05. Vice Presidential candidates Mike Pence and Tim Kaine face off in their first and last debate at Longwood University in Farmville, VA._ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Oct 5, 2016 4:47 AM UTC by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Oct 5, 2016 4:47 AM UTC Vice Presidential candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence debated Tuesday night for the first and only time of the 2016 campaign. The moderator was CBS News’ Elaine Quijano, and the debate took place at Longwood University in Farmville, Va. Read the transcript of the debate below. --- > “” --- ## Transcript [ APPLAUSE ] [ INAUDIBLE ] First off, thank you to [ UNKNOWN ] and thank you to Norwood University for their wonderful hospitality. Donald Trump started his campaign in 2014. He said, if I run for president I will absolutely release my taxes. He's broken his first promise. And he will. He's broken his first promise. At the risk of Agreeing with you. Community policing is a great idea. It's worked well in the Hoosier state and we fully support that. If you want to have a society where people are respected and respect laws, you can't have somebody at the top Who demeans every group that he talks about. And again I cannot believe that governor Pence will defend the insult driven campaign that Donald Trump has run. Insult driven campaign, I mean that's small potatoes compared to Hillary Clinton calling half of Donald Trump's supporters a basked of deplorables. He's got kind of a personal Mount Rushmore. Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong- un. Please. Muammar Gadaffi- Come on. And Saddam Hussein. You whipped out that Mexican thing again. Donald Trump and I would never support legislation that punished women who made the heartbreaking choice to end a pregnancy. Then why did Donald Trump say that? We just never would. Why did he say that? Well, look, he's not a polished politician like you and Hillary Clinton. This is the difference between a foundation that does Good work and a secretary of state who acted in accordance with American interest and somebody who is conflicted in doing work around the world and won't share with the American public what he's doing and what those conflicts are. Governor, I will give you 30 seconds to respond because I know you want to but again, I would remind you both, this was about North Korea. [ LAUGH ] Thank you. From Farmville, Virginian, I'm Elaine Quijano of CBS News. Goodnight. 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